As you all know my name is Wazwan which is served in Kashmir on special occasions, like on marriage ceremonies, on engagement ceremonies, on special functions and now also have the dubious distinction of being served in mourning ceremonies which is known as ‘Czoorim batta’. I myself am uncomfortable with being served on mourning ceremonies as I don’t at all fit in gloomy scenarios but tragically that is not in my hand. I am called ‘The Kings Feast’ and many modifications have been done to me which I don’t at all like but I being robust and rigid don’t at all let people make any modifications to the seven main dishes though there have been additions which change from time to time. Instead of humans, many times machines have taken over for purpose of grinding and mincing the meat but true to my rigidity, men are still needed to pound me. You should see the synchronized pounding (thud thud sound) with wooden Thor Hammer on a butcher block when scores of white clad and white capped junior Wazas sitting on ‘Wagu’ or ‘Patij’ (both are Kashmiri Floor Mats laid on the ground) and smoking the traditional ‘Jajeer’ or Hubble Bubble giving you that longing of festivity. My origin is dubious, some say I am from Iran, some say I am from Central Asia and some say I am indigenous also. When I am being cooked, people always talk about my origin but still no one is able to reach the conclusion from where I have originated but one thing is clear that in old times I was feast of nobility not of commoners like the present times. I am mostly made of lamb in Srinagar with some vegetables thrown in just for sake of it. Kashmiris have always taken me for granted with regard to time but have given me much love when it comes to making me with fresh slaughtered lamb and superb quality of spices and more than sufficient Ghee (Clarified Butter). The amount of ghee which is added to me is something which will put Haryanvis and Rajasthanis, the notorious ghee eaters cornered in a dark room. I am telling you all a secret as my collective conscience compels me to say it that the Wazwan is not the magic of Waza making me the thing I am but it is the perfect blend of open fireplace of wood, copper pots, fresh lamb meat, ghee and spices. Go figure out, this is my secret but hush hush…….don’t tell the Waza or annoy him in any way because it is in his hands that you have placed the responsibility of the feast. If the Wazas asks for Tea, give them as early as possible; don’t make them wait as their temper is directly proportional to how bad they will make the Wazwan. Well I don’t want to be called as being regionally biased but Srinagar and North Kashmir Wazas cook me better than South Kashmir ones, just taste me in Kamraz(North), Yamraz(Central) and Maraz(South) regions, you will notice it yourself.

My foremost complaint with Kashmiris is that they have linked as well as cursed me with unpunctuality. You know how it feels after how much money, time and oily sweat of Waza is put in me and yet I am not served on time? It feels as that beautiful ornament clad bride into whom none is interested for a second look because everyone is hungry and ready to pounce on me. I being the Kings Feast have the luck of being garnished on copper platter perhaps the only time Kashmiris feel presentation of food is important. The Waza puts rice on the big copper plate known as ‘trami’ and puts the required mandatory starters for 4 people equally spaced. One elderly uncle, mostly a mamaji who takes the position on plastic chair near the waza puts napkin on the trami for it to look more decent (that napkin is also used to wipe hands at end of Wazwan). It doesn’t end there, they put a ‘Sarposh’( a copper covering) on me so that I remain covered till it reaches the white Dastarkhwan which is laid where guests are sitting. The white color of Dastarkhwan reminds me of the shroud in end I have to face which is the reality of life. In between the Wazas place and the sitting place of guests which is either a big hall situated mostly on the third storey of house (the only time when it is used apart from some sad demise of a family member) or a tent which either crewel clad or white house type. I have an exceptional relationship with the hall of the house as Kashmiris live to earn for these two things specifically. The hall otherwise remains mostly shut for rest of the time. OK, enough of hall and tent, I was going to say about how I reach the hall or tent from Wazas place as it is unique in itself as it may signify a political statement, I reach through human chains! I am being made political for no reason; this is how mischievous Kashmiri mind works! Also to increase publicity maximum photo ops happen during the kursi clad mamaji putting the fancy napkins on me till the human chain ends at the guests sitting place. As you know Wazwan is mostly associated with marriages which are uniting families together but I have an evil side too, I can break the families and friends. In this busy world when none has time to meet the FnF, it is only the occasions of marriage and some unfortunate death apart from the two Eids that FnF see each other and interact. As I am put on Dastarkhwan, helter-skelter takes place and I make sure only four of a group come and sit around me making others disperse and those who disperse into some random tramis sense a grudge but the show continues. If the trami is put along the sides of room/tent, then by convention the elder two sit along the sides and the younger two sit opposite showing values of Kashmiri culture. I forgot to tell you that during starters and napkin placing on tramis at the Wazas fireplace, another activity occurs at the sitting place and that is the laborious hands washing with Taesh-Naer where the young men are given the job of making the hands wash of guests. Guys when the hands are washed before the meal it is very easy but after meals it becomes tedious after me being devoured especially by women. I don’t know what it is with women when having me, they wash hands as if they will never be clean in future making the guy pouring the warm water bursting in anger but he keeps calm as the woman out of nowhere shows affection as the young boy may be some distant cousin’s son! This is a unique torture method, seriously!

OK guys let’s get started but who will start! When the trami reaches 80% of people, all eyes begin to roll as question is asked to oneself that who is going to start and somehow somebody starts and rest follow them and their begins the cherished Bismillah! Now I am delegating the talk to my constituents who actually make me and they will speak now for themselves.

Rice – I am rice, the staple food of Kashmiris, the thing which fills the Kashmiri tummies on routine days and even if how much junk food or bread a Kashmiri eats in day, until he eats the rice on dinner, he will be considered starved or ‘faqai’. Go figure yourself. Now coming to my role in Wazwan, I am the one which fills the trami and I being the medium through which people taste the curry otherwise I am not that much of a delicacy in Wazwan but I am useful in being drawn as boundary for the persons sitting in the trami so that the other person by not any chance encroaches in other territory and if the boundary begins to become weak, more rice is put to make it strong. There is a cliché; I am more eaten by women than men not out of love for me but out of love for family at home as most women carry the cooked meat delicacy in packets to their homes so that the family at home enjoys it. I am time to time being served during the course so that the trami never remains empty till the end whether it is change of gear from red curry to white curry or vice versa, I am being put by the service guys and mostly the elder guy in trami adds me to the four territories. I have a grudge too; no one puts me in the packets provided by host unlike my counterparts.

Meethi – I am a misnomer now, I am actually Meethi Maaz with traces of meeth (fenugreek) only found. I am made up of pieces of stomach, intestines in ghee and I have the distinction of being the first dish to be tasted with rice opening the gate of stomach valves. I am equally distributed and spaced on four sides of trami, in fact I am aligned such that all four people are adjusted and placed comfortably while eating me.

Chicken – I don’t at all know why I am in Wazwan and if you have to pick the odd man out in Wazwan, it should be me. In the whole meat world, I am considered a healthier option than lamb/mutton but thanks to Wazwan in which I am stir fried in ghee that I end up having around 900 calories for a person’s single serving, the highest compared to any other dish in Wazwan has for one person per serving. In fact I laugh at myself as well as those people who eat me thinking that their fight against high calories will be compensated by eating me more and other dishes less; I just am the devil for those who think that i am a blessing. Coming to taste I am the blandest one that is why I am the odd one out. However, nowadays few have started to marinate me in better way making me much presentable to eat but the other Wazas still think that I am waste of time so I should not be tinkered. I may be one or two on a trami depending on the host.

Kabab – I am minced mutton made by wrapping me around Seekh so I am a seekh kabab with two long pieces placed diagonally and the two persons cut the kebab with hand equally with precision so that all four persons in trami get it. Thanks to ghee, I get calorified high unfortunately compared to kabab you get in simple as well as posh restaurants. I don’t know why but people take interest in how much salt has been added and true to a Kashmiris character, some guest whispers in other ones ear that i have more or less salt. But irony is that in spite of complaining of my salt they keep on relishing it but still complain. Human nature!

Tabakmaaz – Hand upon my fatty heart, I am the most eyed dish. I am the tastiest as I am made of rib cage of lamb and deep fried in ghee. You should see me that how I party in hot ghee as it oozes into me with heat from below just to make me crispier. The real problem with me is not even about my making in ghee, it is about how to divide me between the two persons. As there are two pieces of me, one piece has to be divided between two persons. The two individuals in order to be divided between them pull me towards each other when I am hot, it appears as if my sins were not enough pardoned in hot ghee that I have to be tortured by pulling. I being stretchable compels the individuals do some work and burn fingers till I get divided between them. Rarely do I get divided equally, well fortunate are the ones who get my crispier layer wholly but that is fate! And unfortunate ones who get only the rib bones with meat attached as they have to single out the rib bones and throw them away.

Daniphol – I am single piece cortical bone having sweet taste, many times I am not even touched and many times due to my small size, I am touched in the middle course. Often I get a religious touch that I was the most favorite meat of Beloved Prophet Peace Be Upon Him and I take pride in that. Just saying that if an elderly gets by any chance in your trami then he will say that he used to eat Wazwan twice in a day when he was younger and the current generation doesn’t have the capacity to eat much. Really! I don’t know why Kashmiris repeat the same thing again and again like a broken record. It is the poor young fellows who have to listen to this dialogue only!

Rista – I am the one from where main course starts, pounded with wooden hammer of Thor as described earlier along with Gushtaba, my other fairer brother. I am made into small balls with each person getting one ball. My problem is when i am put on trami, I have to squeeze my way as it is congested due to the starters and sometimes luckily I get straight into persons eating territory when Waza puts all 4 of me into trami.

Rogan josh – I am the most widely celebrated and famous dish all over the world comprising of four meat pieces given to each person along with curry having all sorts of spices. Rogan means ‘oil’ and josh means ‘fire’, that is how I got my name.

Pulao – I am pulao, made from rice, meat juice and dry fruits. I stand alone as instead of meat, I am only rice. I am served mid-way parachuted in boxes now. Earlier I was directly put on plate but thanks to modernity that I am now compressed into a silver foil box. The degradation of presentation is something I am angry about. If I had some meat pieces in me like the biryani of other regions, I would have been treated better definitely.

Chutney and others – Well of many kinds served on a disposable or copper platter, like pumpkin chutney (sweet or salty), Cucumber chutney, Zirish chutney (berry + red chilly powder), Walnut chutney (walnut + curd), Onion chutney(sliced onions in vinegar and red chilly powder), Salad(having no presentation) and mixed pickle. After the Waza makes these things and puts them in Sarposh, the art of putting them in a platter is assigned to the man who is in charge of store-room and he calls up young ones to help him in setting up of platter. Mind it before going to the guests we are relished by those who set me on platter, mostly picking up a radish or carrot or cucumber piece and dipping in chutney and tasting the combination. I am made in equal number as the number of tramis which is expected to be served. Mostly alongside the platter a medium sized basket is also made in which accessories like water bottle, packed curd, cold drinks, towels, knives and spoons and packet containing paper soap, wet tissue and sweet fennel mouth freshener is put. Coming to wet tissue, it is the most useful thing which has been added to Wazwan over years where the guest wipes his hands with it and those who are late due to Wazwan being served late can go out without waiting for Taesh-Naer. The most useless thing on platter are pineapple slices, why it is put and what purpose does it serve, no one has been able to answer it properly.

Palak – Well the only green you will find literally in Wazwan but that too has little baby ristas. Being the only green thing, it is always eaten by everyone out of love.

AabGosht – I am something which makes the population divided. Some hate me as if I have stolen something from their bored lives and some love me that they would do anything to get more and more of my curry made of milk. May be haters hate me because i am sweet in taste, whatever; I am prepared of milk powder and tail part of lamb and scapular portion. Till recently the scapular bone having a triangular shape was used to cut Gushtaba and it was the best thing but it is now abandoned and the cutting work is done by knives.

Tamattar Czamman – Earlier I was made in tomato and cheese slab, now it is tomato puree and cheese slab. To laugh or weep, I don’t know as I am satisfied till the guest loves the cheese. It may seem I may be vegetarian but somehow the big spoons of Wazwan are interchanged while making the various dishes of Wazwan so to expect I may not have a hint of non-veg aroma and flavor is a little bit too much.

Mirchi Korma – I am the penultimate dish and have the maximum red chilli powder among the dishes and true to word, I am red fiery in color but you should also be careful, sometimes the head Waza in order to have redness in me puts coloring agent without telling the host. I am made up of small pieces of mutton and people often love to find the cartilage pieces so that truk-truk sound happens in mouth. By the way the Wazas prefer to take their dinner with me, check it out.

Gushtaba – I am the famous Gushtaba, some call me full stop, some fat bomb. I am made up of the same material as rista but boiled in curd known as yakhnee. I am unnecessarily dragged into something as being mostly fatty just because I am white but as I said rista is also of same material but no one points fingers at it. Both I and rista have one-third portion of fat and rest is lean meat. In fact a person per serving who eats me gets less number calories compared to kabab or chicken in Wazwan. Being served last, people often wait to see me and to eat some dip me in cold curd as if being boiled in hot curd was not enough. Guys my texture is something like sausage as a foreign guest once said. After eating me, the most senior or religious of the guests draws his both hands forwards as in Dua and says Alhamdulillah! That is the end and immediately every one stops eating though drinking water is allowed, so unique it is. Kashmiri things! And the tramis are pulled out of guest room, the white dastarkhwan, a shroud for me is turned yellow because of the leftover bones and meat. And then the hand cleaning process starts.

This is my actual story which no one actually says and I am being realistic here. I am now canned also for the people who can’t come to Kashmir to taste it so that you can enjoy wherever you are in world. Also buffet system has been in style for sometime but the essence of Kashmir culture is lost somewhere, may be at that time, we just sob silently that time is not the only thing, our unique culture is. Hope you get to enjoy me often in your life with no doctor’s warnings about me.

I guess everyone has enjoyed the snowfall which was being waited quite eagerly in this ChilaiKalaan, the harshest 40 day winter period. Sonam Lotus, the chief weatherman had given us the forecast which had come correct after a series of wrong predictions. Snow to each generation means different things. For the young ones who had seen snow in winters in past it was a refreshment of the past memories echoing in our minds. For the elder ones, well they will always be hard on snow, either they will say that this snowfall is nothing as compared to past when they were young and in the same breath will complain that this snow needs to stop. Well most of the times the old age problems which have set in like ortho or respiratory disorders which we find in young ones also compels them to go against the nature and gaze upon the sky to stop the white stuff and be melted down as soon as possible. For kids, well it is Christmas, an opportunity to witness and relive the spectacle witnessed in Disney cartoons which the fortunate ones are blessed to see. Whole place is converted to a la Disneyland and Voila the kids can mould the snow to any character they want which won’t be scarier and uglier at least as compared to the scarecrow. I am not a good writer and neither do I know why I am writing this but as soon I started to drive slowly which also was dangerous after a days snowfall, I was smitten by it, no words to express. As soon I reached the destination, the radio started to play ‘Guloon main Rang Bhare’, a Faiz sahib Kalaam in the melodious voice of Mehdi Hassan. I swear I haven’t enjoyed the verses more as I was watching the white snowy field and I didn’t at all move out of the car till Mehdi Hassan’s voice ended. People say that enjoying music in rain has its own charm but enjoying music with Faiz’s words in snow, it is something I cannot say it in words, I can only explain in snow.

Driving on the banks of Boulevard Road with snowy atmosphere is something which is cherish-able and you kind of witness many things like the snowmen made by boys and taking Selfies with it and the mandatory Sheen Jung or snow fight between friends. It was kind of much needed change after the burning summer as the collective moods were still off even after autumn had passed. Young couples, boys and girls were stopping their cars on the banks of Dal Lake and were posing for the pictures, all enjoying the happy snowy moment, after all the snow had come to visit us after two years. The skewer makers were having a merry day, the peculiar smell of meat roasted on the burning charcoal surrounded by snow, well imagine! Imagine! And I am leaving the imagination to you for how savory it would have been 😉😉.
Snow is something which jogs us to think that why there are seasons, why we need changes in life if it has been on a constant, snow certainly will not make you philosophical or a poet but will make you feel different for a while, a nature’s reminder that life can be beautiful outside of dreams too. Snow Hafiz.

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I am wondering if all has been going well with you. I saw your show on television the other night and you were shouting at a young man who has now been accused of sedition because of a meeting he attended on his college campus. In this show you shouted this young man down, did not let him speak, turned off his mike while he struggled to make himself heard. You called him a terrorist. You said people like him are dangerous elements and wondered who was funding him. You told him he should be grateful for things that India has apparently given him and others like him. You even had a tweet for the purpose #FlashpointAfzal. We will not go into the extraordinary idiocy you displayed in your own version of what you are pleased to call an ‘argument’. It seems in the world you inhabit, and people…

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In the early 90s, people in downtown Srinagar faced the brunt of Indian military forces’ brutalisation. Downtown or the Old Srinagar has been at the forefront of the Kashmiri struggle for independence since centuries. In fact the first revolt against Dogra in 1864 started in its Zaldagar area.

In 1990s, the rebels found home in the maze of alleys and lanes. The underground movement had massive support in Downtown. Thus the military choked this area with a camp or a bunker at almost every nook and corner. It resembled casbah in Algiers when the Algerian armed struggle to overthrow the French started.

The arsons of Kaw Dara and Noor Bagh in the early nineties saw more than 300 properties summarily burnt down (including homes, schools and shops) shocked people. No one expected this incursion in their daily lives. Fear grew by the day. It forced many to consider leaving downtown…

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Following are the 100 Twitter Accounts on Muslim Affairs which are a Must Follow for those having interest in issues concerning Muslims. The list includes the Most Prominent Scholars, News & Current Affairs Twitter handles on Islam & other Religions and Sociopolitical Commentators who have an eye on Muslim affairs. The List is in alphabetic order.

1. ABC Religion & Ethics

@ABCReligion : Religion and ethics news, opinion and programs from the ABC. Check the website here.

2. Abdal-Hakim Murad

@Contentions : This is a twitter account that republishes Shaikh Abdal-Hakim Murad’s thousands of contentions. Timothy John Winter (born in 1960), also known as Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, is a British Sunni Muslim shaykh, researcher, writer and academic. He is the Dean of the Cambridge Muslim College, Director of Studies (Theology and Religious Studies) at Wolfson College and the Shaykh Zayed Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Cambridge University. His work includes publications on Islamic theology and Muslim-Christian relations. He has consistently been included in the “500 Most Influential Muslims” list.

3. Abdullah Nana

@MuftiAbdullah : Abdullah Nana was born and raised in Mill Valley, California. He graduated with honors from UC Berkeley with a degree in Business and Economics. After accomplishing his academic goals, Abdullah Nana went on to pursue the higher Islamic Sciences in South Africa and attained a Masters-equivalent degree in Islamic Theology. Currently, Abdullah Nana is the founding member of the Halal Advocates of America- a national advocacy which seeks to establish closer ties with the Halal supply chain in America and create universal Halal integrity.

4. Abdul Nasir Jangda

@AbdulNasirJ : Abdul Nasir Jangda is the founder and director of Qalam Institute. He was born and raised in the Dallas area. He is a founding member and chairman of Mansfield Islamic Center. Abdul Nasir is an instructor with Bayyinah Institute, where his class “Meaningful Prayer” has traveled the country.

5. Afroz Ali

@alfroz : Imam Afroz studied in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Mauritania and at Al-Azhar University before he established the Al-Ghazzali Centre for Islamic Sciences & Human Development. A professional architect, he offers commercial corporate training on Team Building, Personal Leadership, Spiritual Development, and Motivation and Goal Setting. He is involved in various community developments and sustainable environment projects in Australia and the Pacific and is a recipient of the International Ambassador for Peace award. Lately, he has worked extensively with SeekersHub Global where he serves as the Managing Director.

6. Ahlulbayt TV

@AhlulbaytTV : Ahlulbayt Television Network is the first and on exclusively English-language Shia Islamic television channel. Check the website here.

7. Alchemiya

@Alchemiya : Alchemiya is a video-on-demand platform presenting the worlds best content about Islamic life. Check the website here.

8. Alt Muslimah

@AltMuslimah : Tweets from Asma T. Uddin and the altM editors on gender, Islam and more. Check the website here.

9. Amina wadud

@aminawadud : Amina Wadud is an American scholar of Islam with a progressive focus on Qur’an exegesis & is known as an Islamic feminist.

10. ArchNet

@archnet : Large-scale visual archive and online community with a focus on architecture, design, and landscape in the Muslim world. Check the Website here.

@Assimalhakeem : Sheikh Assim Alhakeem graduated from the prestigious Umm al-Qura University in Makkah, Saudi Arabia in 1998. At present Shaikh Assim is an Imam of a masjid in Jeddah, a role which he has held for the past 20 years, where the sheikh delivers the weekly Friday sermons and lectures on various Islamic Sciences.

@ComingofFaith : In 2012, two friends, Laila Alawa and Rasheeda Abdul-Musawwir, decided to create a space for underrepresented women to share their stories. After years of sharing personal narratives with friends, the two realized that it was unusual for transformative stories to be found in the media, particularly when it centered on minority women. Laila and Rasheeda began cultivating a safe space for voices of Muslim American women. From there, Coming of Faith emerged.

17. Dawud Walid

@DawudWalid : Lecturer on the Islamic faith, human rights advocate & political blogger. His Official Blog is here.

@Deenmedia : Deen TV is a Lifestyle TV Channel based in South Africa which has an Islamic ethos broadcasting to a wide range of audience interest. The channels content covers a wide range of Genres including, health, education, environmental, community and travel amongst others.

20. Ed Husain

@Ed_Husain : Mohamed Mahbub Husain popularly known as Ed Husain is a writer. Husain is the author of ‘The Islamist’, a book about Islamic fundamentalism, and an account of his five years as an Islamist activist. He is a Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He currently lives in Manhattan, New York, USA.

21. Farah Pandith

@Farah_Pandith : Farah Pandith, actually from Kashmir is the first ever (former) Special Representative to Muslim Communities for the United States Department of State.

22. Faraz

@FarazAdm : Mufti Faraz Adam was born in the United Kingdom and raised in Leicester. Graduate of Darul Iftaa Mahmudiyyah & Darul Uloom Leicester and Lecturer of the sacred sciences

23. Faraz Rabbani

@FarazRabbani : Faraz Fareed Rabbani is a scholar and researcher of Islamic law and translator of several Arabic works to the English language. Faraz Rabbani was born in Karachi, Pakistan and raised in Toronto, Canada. Rabbani is a teacher at SeekersGuidance based in Toronto, Canada. More about him can be read at http://www.SeekersHub.org & http://www.SeekersGuidance.org

@hahellyer : H. A. Hellyer, is a British expert on the politics of the modern Middle East, religion and politics, majority-minority relations, security issues and the Muslim world – West relations. A nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Foreign Policy section, and associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, he is also a research associate at Harvard University’s Kennedy School. His website is here.

27. Habib Al Jifri

@alhabibali : Habib Ali Zain al-`Abideen al-Jifri is an Islamic scholar from Hadhramaut, Yemen of the Shafi’i school. Al-Jifri is the founder and director-general of the nonprofit privately-funded Tabah Foundation for Islamic Studies in Abu Dhabi, UAE. He is a member of the board of Dar al-Mustafa Islamic University in Tarim, Yemen. He runs the Islamic Center in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

28. Haroon Moghul

@hsmoghul : Haroon Moghul is an academic and commentator on Islam and public affairs. He is currently a PhD candidate at Columbia University and senior correspondent @rdispatches

@HindMakki : Hind Makki lives in Chicago where she works at the Interfaith Youth Core. Hind has traveled throughout the United States and Western Europe, leading workshops on social cohesion through meaningful interfaith dialogue and in 2008 she participated in the Muslim Youth Project exchange program to the Netherlands. Hind received her BA in International Relations, focusing on global security and diplomacy, from Brown University. Founder @SideEntrance

@islamoyankee : Hussein Rashid, PhD, is founder of islamicate, L3C, a consultancy focusing on religious literacy and cultural competency. He has a BA from Columbia, and an MTS and PhD from Harvard. His research focuses on Muslims and American popular culture. He writes and speaks about music, comics, movies, and the blogistan. He also has a background in South and Central Asian studies, with a deep interest in Shi’i justice theology.

33. Sheikh Humza Yusuf

@hamzayusuf : Shaykh Hamza Yusuf is an American Islamic scholar, and is co-founder of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California, United States. His lectures can be found at http://sandala.org/

@jricole : John Ricardo I. “Juan” Cole is an American academic and commentator on the modern Middle East and South Asia. He is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. His blog is http://www.juancole.com/

@JihadiJew : Lee Weissman graduated from George Washington University, with a Bachelor’s in Religion, then continued graduation at the University of Chicago in South Asian Studies. Also a specialist in Sanskrit and Tamil studies. Jihadi Jew is dedicated to creating a space where observant Jews and Muslims can struggle together to create real understanding, through discussion, debate and mutual support. He blogs at http://jihadiyehudi.blogspot.in/

46. LoonWatch

@loonwatchers : Loonwatch.com is a blogzine run by a motley group of hate-allergic bloggers to monitor and expose the web’s plethora of anti-Muslim loons & conspiracy theorists.

@mehdirhasan : Mehdi Hasan is a British political journalist, broadcaster and author. As a journalist and author, Hasan is the co-author of a biography of Ed Miliband and the political editor of the UK version of The Huffington Post. From a British Indian background, he is the presenter of Al Jazeera English shows The Café and Head to Head.

@MoezMasoud : Moez Massoudis an Egyptian television and radio presenter, public intellectual and religious leader who focuses on the fields of spirituality, inter-faith dialogue, and Islam in the modern world.

54. Mohammed Ansar

@MoAnsar : Mohammed Ansar is a political and social commentator regularly appearing on television and radio. He is a public speaker and visiting lecturer on Islamophobia, Islam in contemporary Britain and Theology. A civil rights activist and legal advocate, he works across a variety of sectors in the fields of education and interfaith. His website is http://moansar.com/

@musafurber : Shaykh Musa Furber is aResearch Fellow at @tabahfoundation. He was recruited by Shaykh Habib Ali al-Jifri to serve as a lead researcher at the Taba Insitute in UAE, where he currently resides. He Has Ijazas in Shafii fiqh and trained & licensed in ifta under the direct supervision of Shaykh Dr Ali Jumua, the Mufti of Egypt.

@AkyolinEnglish : Mustafa Akyol is a Turkish writer and journalist. He is the author of Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty (WW Norton 2011), a book which was long listed in 2012 for the Lionel Gelber Prize, a literary award for the world’s best non-fiction book in English. He became a contributing opinion writer for The International New York Times in the fall of 2013.

@nihal201 : Interested in how we think and talk about religion, community, and the world. Student of Islamic Law & Theology at Nadwatul Ulama in Lucknow, India. Born and bred Jersey boy. This is His tumblr.

@rezaaslan : Reza Aslan is an Iranian-American writer, scholar of religious studies and a professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside. He is a member of American Academy of Religion. His books include the international bestseller No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, which has been translated into 13 languages, and Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, which offers an interpretation of the life and mission of the historical Jesus.

@SayeedaWarsi : Sayeeda Hussain Warsi, Baroness Warsi, is a British-Pakistani lawyer, politician and a conservative parliamentarian, who co-chaired the Conservative Party. She served in the David Cameron’s Cabinet, first as the Minister without portfolio between 2010 till 2012, then as the Senior Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Office and as the Minister of State for Faith and Communities, until her resignation citing her disagreement with government’s policy to the Gaza conflict in August 2014.

80. Sayed M. Modarresi

@SayedModarresi : Sayed Mohammad Mahdi Al-Modarressi comes from a family of scholars which includes supreme religious jurists, or Grand Ayatollahs, such as Grand Ayatollah S. Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi, one of Iraq’s leading faith leaders of its majority Shi’a population.

81. Shadi Hamid

@shadihamid : Shadi Hamid is Director of Research at the Brookings Doha Center & Fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institute. Author of ‘Temptations of Power’.

@TahirulQadri : Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri is a Pakistani scholar and former professor of international constitutional law at the University of the Punjab. On 2 March 2010, Qadri issued a 600-page Fatwa on Terrorism, which is a scholarly refutation of all forms of terrorism. This is the official twitter page of Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri founder of Minhaj-ul-Quran International in Pakistan. His website is http://www.minhaj.org

@UmmahWide : Ummah Wide is a digital media startup focused on stories and cultures that transcend the global borders and boundaries of the Muslim and Human

89. US-Islamic World

@usislam : @BrookingsFP project focused on US relations with global Muslim communities & the role of Islam in politics.

90. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah

@UmarFAbdAllah : The new official account of Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah.

Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah (Wymann-Landgraf) is an American Muslim, born in 1948 to a Protestant family of the Midwest. Early in 1970, he embraced Islam in Ithaca, New York while studying English literature at Cornell University as a Woodrow Wilson honorary fellow. He then changed his field of study and transferred to the University of Chicago in 1972, where he received his doctorate, with honors, in 1978 for a dissertation pertaining to the origins of Islamic Law. He taught at the Universities of Windsor (Ontario), Temple, and Michigan from 1977 until 1982, when he left the United States to teach Arabic in Granada (Spain).In 1984, he was appointed to the Department of Islamic Studies at King Abdul-Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and taught Islamic studies and comparative religions there until 2000. During his years abroad, Dr. Abd-Allah took advantage of the opportunity to study numerous classical Islamic disciplines under several traditional Islamic teachers. He is fluent in English and Arabic and acquainted with several modern and ancient tongues. Dr. Abd-Allah returned to Chicago in August of 2000 to work with the then newly founded Nawawi Foundation as its Chairman and Scholar-in-Residence. Accordingly, he now teaches throughout Chicago land and conducts research in Islamic studies and cognate fields.

91. Vali Nasr

@vali_nasr : Vali Reza Nasr is an American academic and author specializing in the Middle East and the Islamic world. He is currently Dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. and a Senior Fellow in foreign policy at Brookings Institution. He is the author of The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat (2013), Forces of Fortune: The Rise of the New Muslim Middle Class and What It Will Mean for Our World (2009), The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future (2006), and several other books on Iran, Pakistan, Islam and politics, and Middle East politics and economy.

@YasirQadhi : Yasir Qadhi is an American Muslim scholar and writer of Pakistani descent, and Dean of Academic Affairs at the Al-Maghrib Institute, an Islamic educational institution. He has written books and has lectured on Islam and contemporary Muslim issues.[2][4] A 2011 New York Times Magazine essay described Qadhi as “one of the most influential conservative clerics in American Islam”

96. Yasmine Hafiz

@YasmineHafiz : Yasmine Hafiz is the co-author of The American Muslim Teenager’s Handbook, a 2008 Presidential Scholar, and a member of Yale University’s class of 2013.

97. Yasmin Mogahed

@YasminMogahed : Yasmin Mogahed received her B.S. Degree in Psychology and her Masters in Journalism and Mass Communications from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After completing her graduate work, she taught Islamic Studies and served as a youth coordinator. She also worked as a writing instructor at Cardinal Stritch University and a staff columnist for the Islam section of InFocus News. Currently she’s an instructor for AlMaghrib Institute, a writer for the Huffington Post, an international speaker, and author, where she focuses most of her work on spiritual and personal development. Yasmin recently released her new book, Reclaim Your Heart, which is now available worldwide. Visit her website, yasminmogahed.com, where you can find a collection of her articles, poetry, and lectures.

98. Yusuf Moosagie

@muftimoosagie : Mufti Yusuf Moosagie is a presenter on Radio Islam International. He presents a daily programme, ‘Your World Today’ Monday to Friday, 5 to 8 pm Central African Time.

99. Zahra Billoo

@ZahraBilloo : As the executive director of CAIR San Francisco Bay Area (CAIR-SFBA), Zahra Billoo strives to promote justice and mutual understanding. Zahra joined CAIR-SFBA in 2009, and immediately embraced her roles as community organizer and civil rights advocate. She frequently provides trainings at mosques and universities as part of CAIR’s efforts to empower the community, while building bridges with allies on civil rights issues. Zahra also represents victims of discrimination and advocates for policy changes that uphold civil rights for all.

100. Ziya Meral

@Ziya_Meral : Ziya Meral is a London based researcher with a focus on Turkey, Middle East, religion and global affairs.

As i am writing, the Right Wing BJP has emerged as the single largest party with Absolute Majority in the Elections 2014 of India and the ruling UPA has been reduced to a miserable double-digit number in the Parliament. As the opinion polls along with the exit polls of various hues had correctly predicted the gain of BJP lead NDA, still there was a counter opinion that the BJP may not win that big because of the faulty exit poll results in last two General Elections but this time they correctly predicted the wave of Modi which many had rubbished as a myth. It is after a very long time in the electoral history of India that a clear mandate has been given to a single party which is also a right-wing party drawing its inspiration from Sangh Parivar. The rise of Modi in India has opened a plethora of questions about in which way India is going which will be probably be answered in coming five years till the next elections. Everyone will have an eye on Modi’s policies from across the border to within the border and how Modi will deal with issues pertaining to Ram Mandir, Article 370, Minority welfare plus the economic issues. As a Kashmiri, like all other fellow citizens of Kashmir, observed the elections with keen eye even though a common Kashmiri knows that whether it be UPA or NDA, Kashmir Policy will remain same. If we look at the overall poll percentage of J&K, it is near about 50% with individual Poll percentages of Jammu as 70% and Kashmir standing at nearly 30%. There appears a clear division on the mood of people present in both regions with majority of Kashmiris not wanting to vote & majority of Jammuites wanting to vote. Looking at the results, out of the 6 Parliament Seats in J&K, PDP has bagged all 3 seats & BJP in Jammu has bagged the remaining 3 seats, two from Jammu & one from Ladakh leaving the coalition government of NC-Congress to bite the dust. Although Kashmiris by and large hadn’t voted in the elections but still everyone wanted to know the result for the curiosity purpose. Many pundits had predicted that PDP will do well in the Kashmir seats but this came as a surprise that they went on marching on all the three seats of Kashmir leading to defeat of veterans like Dr. Farooq Abdullah & his two associates.

APRIL 13, 2002 – FAROOQ ABDULLAH, then part of NDA, JUMPED INTO THE DAL LAKE TO MARK THE TWO DAY BAISHAKI FESTIVAL AIMED AT ATTRACTING TOURISTS AND REVIVE TOURISM IN KASHMIR. FAROOQ IS SEEN SWIMMING IN WORLD FAMOUS DAL LAKE . PTI PHOTO

Let me remind you all that these Kashmir elections came after a series of catastrophic events in Kashmir with a government headed by Omar Abdullah whose tenure will be remembered more on Twitter than in real books. The way Omar Abdullah led coalition has been routed is something to be worth discussing. After all with the Shopian Gang-rape flip-flop incident in 2009, 2010 mass protests against excesses of security forces leading to death of around 120 men, the J&K Cricket board scandal with Dr. Farooq Abdullah involved & the state government’s silence on Afzal Guru’s hanging in 2013, how can anyone dismiss the backlash of all these years of miss-governance. If we look at the state of affairs of Omar Abdullah Government, it appears only on Twitter through his tantrums. Mr. Omar Abdullah would be only head of state who would curtail the internet connection of his own subjects & go on giving messages for the general public through that medium. If anything we could deduce from the messages he posts during tough times, it appears as if he got a dictation from corridors of Delhi and he is reciting back the words pampered to him for the Indian Media. Even during the current election campaign he shot up with statements which appeared more of arrogance than as a head of state, that he is not accountable to those people who don’t vote in the elections, crossing all limits of decency of the chair he is holding through the glue provided by Delhi. How can the legitimate anger which everyone holds against the regime of National Conference be not foreseen trough the tremors which was felt on May 16 ? How can Dr Farooq Abdullah who had a Kashmiri speaking father tell that fellow Kashmiris are ‘Mahachors’ & get away with it ? For how much long Kashmiris have to bear the tantrums of Delhi by imposing on us the Abdullah Family & not doing anything to solve the Kashmir problem. How long before a Kashmiri CM who in a state assembly says, ‘Main kya karsakta hoon’ on Killings done by security forces ? How long before the Abdullah clan raise the bogey of Secularism & all that stuff which by the way no one buys in Kashmir. These are legitimate questions which a Kashmiri always asks to Kashmir policy makers in Delhi but gets no reply.

Having said everything against NC, it is not that PDP will do wonders, if one is an evil the other has been accused to be a lesser evil and at times the collective lesser evil has done also a damage to the Kashmiri psyche. With results pouring and with it jubilation of Modi supporters across India being seen, across the border, Mian Nawaz Shareef has congratulated Modi & also invited Modi to visit Pakistan which may be seen as a positive signal from Pakistan having a will to cooperate on Kashmir issue and it seems that Pakistan is less concerned how Modi is viewed internally in the country. We all know that BJP is against Article 370 which is actually now only a symbolic article ( which Congress Party at Center has made hollow in all these years) in Indian Constitution which lays the foundation of Kashmir acceding to India, whether Modi is going to touch it or not is going to be seen in future. Although Article 370 bogey is run by National Conference to hoodwink the Kashmiri public yet the public knows that National Conference has been a party to the erosion of Article 370 all these years.

In the post Modi scenario, definitely across all spectrums there will be an introspection that what lead to rise of Modi and what lead to fall of Congress. Definitely the fall of Congress has more to do with the rise of Modi. The desperate measures of UPA 2 like the hanging of Afzal Guru out of his turn & not returning the dead body to his family will definitely haunt Congress and its partner NC in Kashmir for years to come. The scams done by UPA, the passing of Bills in Parliament hastily, the ever arrogant attitude of Congress men, the failure to estimate the popularity of AAP in Delhi, having a weak PM candidate who delivered wretched speeches in election rallies, etc all lead to the downfall of Congress which stand as a two digit Party. Saying this i know Congress Party will do a home work rightly next time or next next time but of National Conference, i assure you all, even all the perfumes of Arabia & all the wisdom in Humanity will not help the National Conference and its first family to have a soul-searching within self because their souls remain buried somewhere in North & South Blocks of Delhi at unknown destination there.

Last few days have been hectic for the people of sub-continent, well it always has been like that. Being from Kashmir has always been a tough job to be on Social Media as along with Kashmir, you have to keep an eye whats happening in India and Pakistan which Kashmiris manage quite well. First of all let me start from the Hometown where the talk of the town is the most recent BOPEE Scandal involving its former chairman and some agents who sold the Entrance Question Papers to some wealthy people in order to get admission in the prestigious medical colleges of J&K. As the scandal was about one of the most important exams in any medical students life or for that matter the parents hopes, it naturally had to get over the top reaction from the general public. Naturally the students who had been burning the midnight oil for qualifying the most prestigious exam would have been most aggrieved and the mental trauma is understandable and so of their parents also. Well its not the first time that medical entrance has been plagued by this BOPEE scandal, similar thing happened in 2003 BOPEE exams. Same level of hue and cry was raised and same tone of reaction was aroused in general public and what happened to that case, need not to mention. But in this case another thing was added which was not only discussed in social media circles but in newspapers also. A section of public including a well to do journalists looked like they were more interested in the name of the BOPEE ex-chairman than the grievous crime itself. When i saw the discourse of this scandal involving Mr. Mushtaq Peer, i was confused that are people discussing the scandal genuinely as should be the case, are people discussing the scandal because it just involves Doctors ( as it has fake glamour attached to it ) or people are discussing it because the surname of the accused person is Peer. And to add insult to the injury big columns were written discussing that the said person has Peer as surname and also attached his name with the fake Peer who would love to proclaim his name as Syed Gulzar Ahmed Bhat involved in the infamous Sex Scandal. With such discussions, Kashmir earned a distinct title of distinguishing crimes based on his or her caste. No one can give a satisfactory answer that how does a crime committed depend on ones caste, whether he is Bhat or Peer in Kashmir. Further more the Chief Minister of J&K went a step further in this tragicomic situation, he said that the accused Ex BOPEE Chairman is a Muslim, no wonder what happens to the secular state at that time. The prisms with which these so called intellectuals see the picture seems to be biased. Few years back i read a book on Kashmir written by David Devdas in which he pointed out that Kashmiri politics is also caste based and gave his explanation. Well to my knowledge and understanding of nature of Politics in Kashmir, i couldn’t understand on what basis he said it. Did it matter for the common masses that Muhammad Abdullah was a Sheikh or Peer, Maqbool Bhat was a Bhat or a Peer, Yusuf Shah was a Syed or Bhat and so on and on. Not justifying the crimes committed by the so called upper caste including Peers in any way but a place where society is divisible at many junctions, having this kind of notorious discourse whether the crime committed by peer or a non-peer is beyond any logic of understanding. Castigating one community alone is not going to solve any-ones problem, the rot runs deep in the society as corruption or any vices has become more and more part of this fragile society from bottom to top.

Now opening a window to the Pakistan where there is usually a bad news coming in every day. Few days back a riot took place in Rawalpindi involving two sects of Muslims on 10th Muharram where many died and dozens got injured. On the social networking sites, people were more interested on who actually were responsible not for breaking the law of land but just for they get some brownie points in criticizing the other sect tarnishing all the values of humanity if ever it was present. There were proofs given by people who actually were sitting some thousands of miles away from Rawalpindi on who were the perpetrators of the riot. Whosoever were the minds behind the riots, how does it matter with which sect they belong to ? More icing on the cake when twitterati began giving suggestions to stop these kind of riots in future by suggesting to ban Ashoora and Mawlid processions . Wonder, how will it help in country where Masjid and Imambargahs were not spared of bombs by terrorists, so how does these kind of shallow ideas emerge from anyone’s mind. I have never participated in any Mawlid or Ashoora processions but banning any religious procession is strictly against the tenets of freedom of speech and religion. And the irony is those demanding ban on religious processions were, are and will be the most iconic voices in portraying the Islamophobia in West, a simple case of one bigot calling a other bigot, a bigot. If anyone doesn’t give right to express his or her own opinion in his or her own way, never expect that this person will give you to raise your own voice tomorrow on any other issue. Now it has been a routine on social networking sites to discuss religion freely with the availability of Sheikh Google. Come Muharram – discuss Shias, Come Rabiulawal – discuss Barelvis and Sufis, Come the stupidity and abuses by the family of Saud – discuss Wahabis and Come some unusual Fatwas – discuss Deobandis. You will get bundles of Fatwas of Shirk and Kuffr from those who even don’t know you and will be targeted in groups as if the only thing left in their life is to prove that they all along are right, rest can and should go to hell. Some of us hold our head so high that it gets impossible to argue but little they know that this arrogance can also fall just like the Tehelka Head.

Coming to the Indian Media where the most covered news this time is the Tehelka scandal involving Tarun Tejpal. A magazine which began with humble origins with the motto of crusade against the wrongdoings finds itself entangled in the web of accusations which are very gory. And many media houses and political parties grinding there own axes against the Tehelka Magazine. Well the idea of Tehelka was shattered long before and some shine it had left, also is now faded. Being an avid newspaper reader, i remember that day when Tehelka became a print newspaper ( don’t remember it was weekly or fortnightly) and i bought it for ten bucks few years back and also remember the scold i got from my grandfather when he asked me why i bought a newspaper for ten bucks !! Such was my trust with the brand of Tehelka but it soon started to fade out. The Tehelka is all there, it has fallen in this season of fall, leaf by leaf in front of the 24*7 circus of TV News channels.

Now moving on to the biggest news this week is that of successful talks between the Global superpowers including USA with Iran. The Iranians celebrated it with fervor in view of easing of sanctions against them on the issue of nuclear energy. The success can be attributed to the new moderate President of Iran, Mr. Rouhani along with his Foreign Minister. But the successful talks have made some angry which include Saudi Family and Israel. Not to forget to mention that what murky things Iran is doing in Syria has nothing to do with the Common Iranians who are suffering due to the harsh sanctions against their own country. A common Iranian and the Ayutullah regime are two separate entities. Long before if u would be discussing Iran with anyone, two separate views emerged, one being blinded by his pro-Iran regime loyalties and other being blinded by his anti-Iran stance with both having shades of sectarianism associated. When confronted with own middle-path unbiased views, none believed, each giving its own version. The truth being mixed with the tales of Iran by the Iranian Press TV and the Pro-American Media including CNN and FOX. That is what happens when a country lives in isolation for more than three decades which makes it difficult to tell people the real picture.